Snow blower



E. C. SEDORE Jan. l0, 1967 SNOW BLOWER Filed NOV. 6, 1965 /xw/N-rof ERA/57 0. 3500,95

Unite States Patent O 3,296,717 SNW BLWER Ernest C. Sedore, Mount Albert, Ontario, Canada Filed Nov. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 321,742 Claims priority, application Canada, Dec. 12, 1962, 864,324 Claims. (Cl. 37-43) This invention relates to snow-removing apparatus and in particular to snow plows comprising power-driven blower mechanisms.

It is `an object of this invention to provide a snow plow wherein snow-directing elements and snow-removal elements are provided and arranged for easy and eflicient operation.

More particularly, my invention aims to provide a snowremoving apparatus in which snow-removing units are employed having driven impellers housed in casings with open front ends for receiving snow, and in which the snow-removing units are arranged one in advance of the other in tandem style in association with snowdirecting means such that snow is `at least guided toward the rear removal unit as the machine is forwardly propelled. Accordingly, the snow-removing units share the work in cutting a path through snow. The snowdirecting means may comprise a wing extending forwardly and outwardly from a side of the rear snowremoving unit or alternatively, such a wing may be employed at each side of the rear snow-removing unit. On the other hand, by way of preference, both the front and rear units are equipped With wings diverging forwardly and outwardly from the side portions of the housings of the units. The snow-removing apparatus may be propelled by a tractor or the like, or it may be hand propelled.

With these and subsidiary objects in View the invention comprises the novel construction and arrangement of parts as set forth in the ensuing specification and shown in the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of the snow plow;

F-IG. 2 is a view along the lines 2 2 of FIG. l; and

FIG. 3 is a view along the lines 3 3 of FIG. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawings, there is shown a snow plow comprising a frame 10 of generally A-shape with the apex 12 apertured as at 12 for making a connection with the lift arm of a hydraulic lift of a tractor or other propulsion means. A cross bar or rod 14 is provided on the frame 10 as part of the connection with the hydraulic lift of the tractor or other propulsion means. This or alternative connections for a snow plow to a propulsion means, will be well known to those skilled in the art and do not affect the scope of the invention which pertains to the construction of the snow plow per se, Moreover, as with most linkage connections, the linkage connecting the frame to the propulsion means `allows the disposition of the snow plow to be oriented as may be desired.

Attached to the frame 10 as a unit therewith, is a pair of drums or impeller housings generally indicated at 50, 51, comprising a circular rear plate 16 and a circumferential wall 18, 18', `generally perpendicular to the rear plate `and extending forwardly therefrom. The drums are rigidly connected to each other by upper and lower channel members 17. The upper channel member is attached by a bar 19 to the frame 10. The drums are axial-ly aligned with one another in a direction perpendicular to the rear plates 16 and the direction of alignment approximates the intended forward direction of operational travel of the snow plow. The drums are thus open in the direction of movement and the circumferential walls 1S, 18 are axially aligned in tandem fashion.

Diverging forwardly and outwardly from the open side of the forward drum is a pair of snow-directing wings or elements 20 whose inner ends conform to the rotundity of the drum in such a way that the snow moving inwardly along the snow-directing elements 20 is directed into the open drum. The diverging or outer ends of the snow-directing elements 2li span a predetermined transverse distance, so as to cut a predetermined path through snow. Diverging outwardly from the rear drum is a second pair of snow-directing wings or elements 22 and the inner ends thereof are arranged to direct snow into the rear drum. Said second pair of wings or directing elements 21B diverge to a greater span than the corresponding span of the forward pair of snow-moving wings or elements 2lb. Apertures 23 are provided on the centre of plates 16 and bearings 24 aligned with these axial apertures are mounted on the backs of each of the plates 16, and in the preferred embodiment the drums have said laxial apertures aligned in the direction of travel.

A shaft 25 is journalled in and projects from both sets of bearings 24 and apertures 23, and rearwardly of the rearward drum there is provided a coupling 26 which makes a connection with a drive shaft extending from a power take-off of a tractor or other propulsion means. Rear bearing 24 is connected to the A-frame, as shown. Mounted on the shaft 25 to rotate in the forward drum is an impeller or paddle 59 which acts to throw snow radially through a spout or chute 28 outwardly and upwardly from the drum under centrifugal action. Said spout or chute 28 is disposed tangentially of the housing or drum as customary in such snow blower apparatus.

The impeller or paddle 59 is desirably of the twoblade type and is of an arcuate shape in cross section with respect to the blade elements.

Desirably there is provided an auxiliary impeller 37, in advance of the open side of the forward drum, which is keyed or otherwise secured on the shaft 25 to turn with it. The auxiliary impeller 37 functions to feed snow into the forward drum as it is scooped by the wings or snowdirecting elements 20.

Now adverting to the rear drum 18', there is provided therein an impeller or paddle 59' having a pair of diametrical blades of an arcuate shape in cross section. This impeller or paddle is keyed or otherwise secured on the shaft 25 to turn with it and functions to discharge snow outwardly of-the surrounding drum through a spout or chute 26 which is tangentially arranged on the drum to extend upwardly.

Desirably the rear drum 18 is also provided in advance thereof with an auxiliary impeller 37 which is secured on the shaft 25. Auxiliary impeller 37 operates to feed snow into the rear drum as it is scooped by the rear set of wings or snow-directing elements 22. Since the rear set of wings or snowdirecting elements 22 are much longer than the front set 20, is is desirable to brace their frontal ends in a suitable manner such as by a cross bar 3 60 which is secured to the front drum 13 intermediate of its length.

The tandem blower units are each provided with deflecting hoods for causing snow to be thrown to one side or the other of the snow blower apparatus.

The detlecting hood of the forward snow blower unit is shown at 32 and is of a shallow U-shape in cross section, having the legs 33 inwardly extending from the bight wall 33. The legs 33 straddle the spout or chute 28. The detlecting hood 32 is pivoted above the discharge opening of the spout or chute 2S on an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft 25 as by the pivots 61 at the upper ends of the companion arms 30. According. to this arrangement the deflecting hood may swing between two positions. In one position, as shown in FIG. 1, and also shown in FIG. 2, but in phantom lines, the deflecting hood is disposed to deflect snow across the forward snow blower unit to the opposite side thereof. By swinging the deflector hood to its second position, shown in full lines in FIG. 2, its disposition is now such that snow in dicharging from the spout 28 of the blower housing is deflected and thrown to the corresponding side of the forward snow blower unit.

Resilient means is provided to yieldably retain the deector hood in either of its positions aforesaid. Said resilient means is shown as comprising a helical tension spring 36 anchored at its lower end to the radial Wall 16 of the blower housing and having its upper end connected to a strap 37 which in turn has a hook-on engagement with a shank 34 of an actuating handle 35. By this arrangement the tension of spring 36 is applied at one side of the pivotal axis 61 of the deector hood when the deector hood is in one of its two positions as will be understood from an inspection of FIG. 2. When the deector hood is swung to its other position the spring 36 similarly acts to retain the deector hood due to the spring acting on the other side of the dead centre position of the deector hood.

The actuating handle 35 enables the dellector hood to be turned `to either of its operative positions and the shank portion 34 extends across the outer portion of the deflector hood and is welded or otherwise secured thereto. The shank extends rearwardly past the other snow blower unit to a point where the handle 35 is radially disposed.

The delivery spout or hood 26 belonging to the rear snow blower unit is supplied wit-h a similar decctor hood 32 pivotally supported at 61 on the upstanding straps and retained yieldably in either of its positions =by means of a tension spring 36 and strap connection 37. The shank 34 of the handle is welded to this deilector hood in order to be operated concurrently with the detiector hood 32.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that when the snow blower is hitched to a tractor and propelled forwardly with its snow blower units in operation as by power taken off the power-off of the tractor, the apparatus cuts a swath through snow by means of the foremost wings or snow-directing units 20 and as the snow is fed into the leading snow blower unit it is forcibly discharged to one side or the other of the apparatus. Concurrently therewith the rear snow blower unit cuts a wider swath and the snow is fed into the rear blower unit and forcibly discharged to one side or the other of the apparatus. This provides a two-stage snow removal apparatus which has been found to be much more economical of power than the conventional snow blower by reasonl of the function of the two snow-removing units in removing about half of the snow at the centre of the cut and the remainder at the side thereof. Not only is there a saving in power but the apparatus is more eicient and easy to manipulate.

In light-duty snow removers, it may be desirable to employ a device, such as the vertical plate 39 to prevent the snow remover from creeping to one side in its operational movement, particularly when taking more than one cut through snow. The anti-creep plate 39 is vertically disposed and secured to one of the win-gs or scoops 22 to extend rearwardly thereof. It may be adjustably secured as by the hinge connection 39 and supplied with an arm 40 pivoted at 40 and fastened to the respective wing or scoop by a perforated bar 42, the holes of which denoted at 42', are longitudinally disposed and receptive to a fastener such as a bolt and nut 48. Accordingly, a hold can be selected that affords the desired angular adjustment.

While a selected embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in which wings are employed on the front and rear snow-removing units, it will be understood that it is not intended to restrict the invention to the specic arrangement. Therefore it will be appreciated that the rear snow-removing unit may be the only unit equipped with the snow-directing means. These and other modifications may be resorted to as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A snow blower apparatus comprising axially aligned front and rear snow blower units connected together in spaced relation in tandem and hav-ing impellers therein for discharge of snow, said snow blower units open at the front for receiving snow, power means for driving sai-d impellers, wing means for scooping snow, said wing means including at least one snow-directing element diverging outwardly and forwardly from each of the front openings of said front and rear snow blower units wherein the snow-directing element on the rear blower unit is of a greater lateral extent than the snow-directing element on the front blower unit and projects outwardly thereof, and means for enabling the snow blower apparatus to be propelled forwardly in a snow removing operation.

2. The snow blower aparatus of claim 1, wherein the rear snow blower unit is provided with two snow-directing elements which relatively diverge outwardly and forwardly from the front opening thereof and are of greater length than the snow-directing element on the front blower unit and project outwardly thereof.

3. The snow blower apparatus of claim 2 in which the snow-directing elements are of an arcuate shape in cross section.

4. The snow blower apparatus of claim 2 in which bracing means are supplied 4for supporting an outer end portion of a snow-directing element.

5. The snow blower apparatus of claim 2 in which a snow-directing element is supplied 4with an anti-creep plate for precluding unwanted lateral creep of the snow blower apparatus.

6. The snow blower apparatus of claim 5, said anticreep plate being vertically mounted and angularly adjustable with respect lto the direction of travel of the apparatus.

7` The snow blower apparatus of claim 1 wherein the front lsnow blower unit is provided with a pair of similar snow-directing elements which relatively diverge outwardly and forwardly from the front opening thereof, and wherein the rear snow blower unit is provided with a pair of similar snow-directing elements which vrelatively diverge outwardly and forwardly from the front opening thereof, the structure being characterize-d in that said rear pair of snow-directing elements are of greater length than the said front pair of snow-directing elements and project outwardly thereof.

8. A snow blower apparatus comprising axially aligned front and rear snow blower units connected together in tandem and having impellers the-rein for discharge of snow, said snow blower units open at the front for receiving snow, power means for driving said impellers, wing means for scooping snow, said wing means including at least one snow-directing element diverging outwardly and forwardly `from the said front opening of said rear snow blower unit, and means for enabling the snow blower apparatus to be propelled forwardly in a snow removing operation, said snow blower unit including circular housings vertically and transversely disposed with respect to a longitudinal axis, said housings having open front ends and closed rear ends, and there being a tangential discharge spout communicating with the interior of each of said housings, `and wherein said housings are rigidly connected together by frame members.

9. The snow blower -apparatus of claim 8, wherein said impellers are immovably mounted on a shaft centrally extending through said housings and jourualled for rotation by the power means.

10. The snow blower apparatus of claim 8, wherein the discharge spouts are laterally disposed `and upwardly directed, and wherein deector hoods are pivotally mounted over the discharge spouts for directing discharge of having handle devices whereby they may be shifted on their pivotal mountings.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,824,662 9/1931 Davidson 37-43 1,881,865 10/1932 Neal 37-43 1,987,313 1/1935 Severson 37-43 2,281,289 4/1942 Hewitt 37-43 2,679,702 6/1954 Berger 37-43 3,085,832 4/1963 Guillemette 37-43 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Prz'maly Examiner.

snow to one side or the other of the blower units and 15 R. L. HOLLISTER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SNOW BLOWER APPARATUS COMPRISING AXIALLY ALIGNED FRONT AND REAR SNOW BLOWER UNITS CONNECTED TOGETHER IN SPACED RELATION IN TANDEM AND HAVING IMPELLERS THEREIN FOR DISCHARGE OF SNOW, SAID SNOW BLOWER UNITS OPEN AT THE FRONT FOR RECEIVING SNOW, POWER MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID IMPELLERS, WING MEANS FOR SCOOPING SNOW, SAID WING MEANS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE SNOW-DIRECTING ELEMENT DIVERGING OUTWARDLY AND FORWARDLY FROM EACH OF THE FRONT OPENINGS OF SAID FRONT AND REAR SNOW BLOWER UNITS WHEREIN THE SNOW-DIRECTING ELEMENT ON THE REAR BLOWER UNIT IS OF A GREATER LATERAL EXTENT THAN THE SNOW-DIRECTING ELEMENT ON 